Eva Pasco's Blog, page 44

The Loop!

Do you remember “The MTA" (The Boston Subway Song) recorded in 1959 by the Kingston Trio?

Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charley on a tragic and fateful day.

He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family, went to ride on the M. T. A.

[Chorus]

Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and his fate is still unknown.

He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.

In real time - June 22nd: IN A LOOP!

Typically, before my morning walk and exercise routine, I press the “on” button to start my computer. That morning, I kept seeing an error message about Windows not shutting down properly. I then hit “enter,” corresponding with the option to “start Windows normally.” After several times of seeing the desktop and looping back to the same error message, I muttered one of my favorite pessimistic quips—“No good comes on a Thursday!”

OUT OF THE LOOP!

My computer tech made an office visit, conducted diagnostic tests, and detected a corrupted hard drive. This necessitated carting the tower to his office where he’d replace the hard drive and install all of my backup data.

*Sigh! I know full well how diligence and persistence are daily requirements for an Indie author striving for public visibility on social media. Since most of my sales are eBooks in the form of Amazon’s Kindle Edition, it behooves me to post ads and procure promotional venues via interviews on book blogs and blog radio.

Having lost a day, I engaged in what I did before embarking on a writing career—reading! I was able to make considerable progress in one of the Indie author books I intend to review.

BACK IN THE LOOP!

June 23rd: My computer tech hooks up my computer and organizes my email accounts. I’m soon back in biz. One of my priorities—writing and publishing this Blog!

I’m grateful for the restoration of all my data after forfeiting a day I’ll never get back. Like Charley, my fate is still unknown. But, at least I’ve made an Indie comeback!

Wondering Woman

I wonder, wonder who, who-oo-ooh, who
(Who’s next to read my book? )
I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who?

(*Inspired by the song, “The Book of Love,” a single by The Monotones, released in 1958)

A worrier by nature, separate and apart from the call to arms of an Indie author--I can’t help but wonder about my future readers and their follow-up reviews. I’ve been wielding my superpowers to expand readership, fortified by the merits of my book accrued since publication (September 20, 2016):

Readers’ Favorite 5-Star Review

ATAI (Authors Talk About It) 2017 Fiction Finalist

1st out of 78 books set in Rhode Island (Goodreads).

Recently, on June 9th, my 15-minute book interview was re-featured on “The Authors Show,” and it’s still accessible. Among the talking points, I delve into the single most important idea in ‘An Enlightening Quiche’ which has potential for adding value to the reader’s life—letting go of the past!

http://wnbnetworkwest.com/WnbAuthorsS...

What does a Wondering Woman have to lose by using her wits in fighting the battle of author obscurity? Periodic rebroadcasts with publicity outreach to journalists, search engines, and social media!

Coming up—two live radio show segments:

Dialogue: Between the Lines with Susan Wingate - July 11th.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dialogue

OFF THE CHAIN with Author and Radio Host, Yvonne Mason – September 9th.

https://offthechainwithauthorandradio...

A Wondering Woman, I am relentless in my pursuit to target female readers over forty to acquire a copy of my Contemporary Women’s Fiction novel which features flawed, feisty women who overcome their personal dilemmas and become empowered in making profound life changes for the better.

What's Your Rush?

From the perspective of an Indie author, my rush or euphoric surge derives from discovering that I’ve sold at least one book according to my monthly royalty report. Even better, is the ecstasy that lingers over a glowing book review. Since both prospects are sporadic for achieving an Indie high, I’m strung out until my next fix from yet another book sale and follow-up review.

So, what does an Indie author do after the crash?

For me, I get a rush through the journey of writing Memoirs and weekly Blogs which are posted on my Web page at Authors Den. Besides the satisfaction begotten from all of my satellite writing throughout the years, these endeavors generate clicks on my books, as indicated by the counters.

Outside the world of writing, I get a rush by enjoying the simple pleasures of life, be they going for a drive or heading out to lunch. I’ve recently taken the bull by the horns in revamping my fitness routine which gives me a morning rush and flush.

Whatever rows your boat!

I also get a rush chasing rainbows when it comes to rising above the ashes of Indie author obscurity, by seeking recognition and publicity for my writing.

My Rush in Real Time:

1 – My recent Memoir, “Pan Handling” was no. 1 on the top 100 “Most Popular Stories” at Authors Den.

http://www.authorsden.com/categories/...

*Today, it has been knocked down a peg to no. 2, surpassed by my most recent Memoir, “My Fit Bit”:

http://tinyurl.com/yav6jbc6

2 – June 5th: My novel was featured at Authors Village.

http://authorsvillage.blogspot.com/20...

3 – June 6th: My latest author interview at BOOK CHATTER MAGAZINE went live. There are several thought-provoking questions, two of which are: What are the ethics of writing Women’s Fiction? How does your book stand out from the crowd? I rarely provide chapter excerpts, but Augusta has shared an inconvenient truth from Chapter 15.

https://bookchattermagazine.com/2017/...

4 – June 9th: My book interview is featured today on “The Authors Show”! Packed into this 15-minute segment, I delve into the single most important idea in AN ENLIGHTENING QUICHE which has potential for adding value to the reader’s life—letting go of the past! I hope you’ll lend me your ear:

http://wnbnetworkwest.com/WnbAuthorsS...






5 – Just before publishing Eva’s Byte #112, the total number of hits registered from 06/02 – 06/09 for my Blogs featured at Authors Den = 712!

Since an Indie author can’t always sustain a rush due to the frustrations from the writing process itself, or the difficulty of finding eager readers for our books—it behooves each of us to get a rush elsewhere—any way and anywhere we can.

My Book Podcast on "The Authors Show"

Catch as catch can!

My book interview is featured today on “The Authors Show”! Packed into this 15-minute segment, I delve into the single most important idea in AN ENLIGHTENING QUICHE which has potential for adding value to the reader’s life—letting go of the past!

I hope you’ll lend me your ear:

http://wnbnetworkwest.com/WnbAuthorsS...

The Measure of Success

For an Indie author such as myself, gaging my success as a writer is not measured in the number of books sold or royalties earned each month. Achievement isn’t about attaining a delusional benchmark by climbing a ladder of success either. Oh, it’s an upward and uneven climb alright! Without the benefit of proceeding step by step along the rungs of a metaphorical ladder in the hope of becoming a popular author whose books are read by many. There are no safety nets or guarantees whatsoever along this precarious journey.

I admit to struggling more days than others trying to wrap my head around a pursuit propelled more by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards grounded in reality. Being one’s own best advocate involves time, energy, and if you’re relentless as I am--often shelling out money to stay in the shell game by procuring promo venues to reach the reading public at large, and entering literary contests on the off chance of gaining recognition and merit.

2017 Fiction Finalist & 5-Star Badge from ATAI (Authors Talk About It):

http://tinyurl.com/jgxsa42

Hence, my measure of success as an Indie author derives from seizing those elusive, few-and-far-between, short-lived jolts of euphoria and capitalizing upon them as I am now in real time.

The foundation for my elucidation:

1 – My Contemporary Women’s Fiction novel received another 5-Star Review posted on Goodreads and Amazon. I’m so proud to share this excerpt:

“AN ENLIGHTENING QUICHE is a delightful read for those who enjoy women’s fiction written with pun heavy pageantry. Eva Pasco is a tuneful wordsmith. A first-class ink slinger. Every paragraph of ‘An Enlightening Quiche’ is a novel in itself. Pageantry and drama aside, it’s a story about home and that’s something we can all relate to. There’s no place like home and Eva Pasco provides the ruby slippers.”

Review in Full - http://tinyurl.com/y8txchn6

2- My novel was featured at “My Book Place”:
http://mybookplace.net/an-enlightenin...

3 - My fifteen minutes of “fame” via my feature book interview on “The Authors Show” where I share the single most important idea in my novel which has potential for adding value to the reader’s life—among other things behind the scene!

http://wnbnetworkwest.com/WnbAuthorsS...

4 – And, a beautiful by-product from The Authors Show in the form of a 29-second book trailer to upload on my websites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25h92...

If “the true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good” (Advice Columnist, Ann Landers)—then, the true measure of success for an Indie author is manifesting determination and resilience whatever the prospects or lack thereof.

Counter Intelligence!

Preoccupied with marketing and promoting my second novel in the genre of Contemporary Women’s fiction ('An Enlightening Quiche'), hybridly self-published through Infinity Publishing in September, 2016—I barely give a thought to my debut novel ('Underlying Notes': first printing 2007; second printing 2009; Kindle Edition (2014) – self-published at Amazon).

Ironically, the first novel enables me to utilize counter intelligence provided by Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing reports. At any given moment I’m privy to data stored on the Sales Dashboard where I can view sales for current and prior months; Prior Six Weeks’ Royalties; Prior Months’ Royalties; Month-to-Date Sales.

Not to be deterred by deprivation of counter intelligence reports at Amazon for my second novel, I seek numeration elsewhere for affirmation of interest in my book and/or other pieces of writing.

Accessing “Stats” at Authors Den provides counter intelligence on the number of hits at any given moment in real time for my bio, books, stories, articles, news, and blogs. I’m ecstatic that my Blogs merit well over 200 hits each week. Plus, I delight in discovering both of my featured books consistently get clicks throughout the day.

My Goodreads counter intelligence provides feedback on the number of viewers who read my blogs, as well as indicating how many people have entered my Giveaway contests before their expiration date.

BookLinker, where I’ve set up a universal book link for Amazon, allows me to gage the success of my daily promo ads on Facebook by registering the number of clicks to the landing page:

http://mybook.to/AnEQuiche

For an Indie author, where there’s a will, there’s a way! What I lack in detailed sales reports, I make do with other counter intelligence.

Money Squandering!

Like a gambler on empty chasing a loss by feeding the one-armed bandits, or frantically hedging last-minute bets at the Roulette table—this Indie author is either chasing her losses or following lucrative leads here and there.

Aha! Those irresistible book barkers who lure susceptible Indies hungry for steadfast sales by promoting your book to avid readers via their mailing lists with 15,000+ subscribers for a standard fee of $15 give or take a buck or two, with add-on Twitter and/or Facebook options.

Where does the Indie author’s buck stop? At one, two, three, or more such promo venues per month?

This month’s money squandering for book promo venues include:

eBookSoda (May): http://www.ebooksoda.com/

My Book Place (June): http://mybookplace.net/

Authors Talk About It Book Promotion (June):

https://authorstalkaboutit.clickfunne...

By far, the most daring gamble I’ve taken in going for broke this month, has been that of calling my own bluff by squandering plenty of dough chasing the limelight for my upcoming edited and reformatted radio segment on The Authors Show. My first featured, free broadcast dates are June 9th, 10th, and 11th simultaneously on 5 separate "channels" with one interview broadcasting per channel.

The Authors Show: http://wnbnetworkwest.com/

By purchasing the “Silver Plan,” I have upped the ante for having my author interview rebroadcasted during the next six months on one of their show channels for on‐demand listening 24/7. And, once per month, my interview will be showcased in a featured rebroadcast for 24 hours.

Plus, I receive a 30-second book marketing HD silver video for the book that is the subject of my interview—Contemporary Womens’ Fiction novel, ‘An Enlightening Quiche’.

Whether it’s money squandering in the name of chasing a loss or following up on a lead, when opportunity knocks, there’s usually a price to pay!

My Mother: My Muse

A double whammy: Mother’s Day is coming up. And, in conjunction with the honor of being one of the Author Show’s 2017 Top Female Author nominees, I will participate in a radio interview hosted by Don McCauley for the show on Saturday, May 13th at 10:00 AM EST. The segment will be edited and formatted before it is scheduled to go live and distributed to social media outlets at a future, undisclosed date.

http://wnbnetworkwest.com/WnbAuthorsS...

Having rounded the corner of Phase 3, I’m grooming myself by carefully considering my answers to potential questions he may ask. One of the prompts is:

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Although I most certainly do not intend to delve into every nuance for the show, I’m at liberty to do so here, giving full credit to my mother—my muse, for launching my writing career lock, stock, and barrel!
An only child at the age of five when my parents and I moved into our custom-built home which happened to be one of the first houses on Angell Rd. in Lincoln, Rhode Island, my rural surroundings had a profound impact on my life. Before my sister came along and the neighborhood expanded for me to have playmates, I relied heavily on my imagination while dialoging with my dolls during high tea. Prior to my enrollment at Lincoln Community School, I looked forward to long walks with my mother and listening to her read stories to me for hours on end.

It is suggested that to become a good writer, one must first be a good reader. On that note, ever since I was a toddler sitting on my mother’s lap while she read stories to me, I developed a fascination with words, delighted by the turn of phrase in the English fairy tale, “Teeny Tiny”: “Once upon a time there was a teeny-tiny woman who lived in a teeny-tiny house in a teeny-tiny village. Now, one day, this teeny-tiny woman put on her teeny-tiny bonnet, and went out of her teeny-tiny house to take a teeny-tiny walk …” My mother whetted my lifelong appetite for reading and cultivated my flair for writing.

The realization of my fascination with books and how much I loved to read hit me when I was a third grader at the age of nine. I was so smitten with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ that I signed it out from our school library several weeks in a row to read it again and again.

Also, at the age of nine, courtesy of my mother who was a graduate from Katherine Gibbs secretarial school, I became a proficient typist, finger tapping the keys on my girly-pink Tom Thumb typewriter.

Then, the catalyst of a malfunction in our doorbell, which would ring sporadically by itself until my father dismantled the wiring and corrected the situation, spurred me to draft a chapter story on my typewriter in the genre of mystery—“The Mystery of the Midnight Doorbell,” replete with dialog, secret codes, and a smuggling ring.

Hot to trot along the stubborn keys of a manual typewriter, I struck gold from mining a series of spy thrillers under the auspices of an agency I named I.N.T.R.I.G.U.E. Plucking the names of exotic countries from a map provided settings I knew nothing about. For me, it was all about the action, creating stereotyped characters dripping dialogue in broken English, good triumphing over evil, and gadgetry.

In high school, I wrote a romance novella which earned its place on a library shelf. The book, a sheaf of orange typing paper fastened together with mod magazine cutouts on the cover, caused quite a stir until it disappeared. The bulldoggish librarian who reluctantly allowed my Chick Lit in the library at the urging of several classmates, told me it was stolen. Years later, when thinking back, I believe she trashed my enterprise.

The rigors of college, and the demands of a teaching career, shelved further creative writing ambitions until I retired from the profession. Midlife restlessness revived my dormant flair for writing, resulting in the publication of my debut novel, ‘Underlying Notes’ – first printing (2007); second printing (2009); Kindle Edition (2014).

While working on my second novel, ‘An Enlightening Quiche,’ other writing detours in the form of Memoirs, Retro 60s Flashbacks, and essays pertaining to Rhode Island delayed its completion until 2016.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mother—my muse who continues to inspire and encourage me during setbacks, conveying her belief that one of these days, my book will become a best seller!

Indie Irregularity!

Since I coined the phrase, I will define it: book sales constipation resulting in irritable author syndrome.

On any given day you can find at least one post on Facebook where an author will cite undergoing a stretch of stagnant or sporadic sales which has nothing to do with these buzz kills:

Obscure or broad subject matter

Subpar quality of writing, editing, or formatting

An amateur or lackluster book cover

Priced inappropriately

However, I have seen Indie Irregularity attributed to the seasonal doldrums for dismal sales.

Here’s where I take umbrage. In my book, speaking from the perspective of an avid reader—you can’t separate a bookworm from his/her Kindle or paperback no matter what! And, despite what financial strait you might find yourself in, most eBooks retail under $5.00. Since reading is an addiction, most will do what it takes to get their fix!

Here’s my take on Indie Irregularity:

The market is saturated. All one has to do is scroll along any author promo group on Facebook to see the countless number of ads pitching books. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!

Believing that “word of mouth” is the best aphrodisiac to lure potential readers, I am committed to reading and reviewing books written by Indie authors, and posting these reviews on social media.

If only we Indies could entice more potential readers out of the woodwork to attend our author takeovers for the sake of discovering and acquiring our books.
If only our ads put a bee in a reader’s bonnet to buy
our books.

Yet, persevere we must along our journey to rise above the ashes of obscurity no matter how daunting the prospects at any season!

The Hustle

In the same boat with a lot of my Indie author friends
Waitin' for the day our ship'll come in
And the tide's gonna turn
And it's all gonna roll our way
Workin' 9 to 5!

(Adaptation of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” – released, 1980)

9 to 5? More than likely, around the clock with unspecified hours for bearing life’s responsibilities above and beyond writing, marketing, and promoting.

It’s a daily hustle which starts as soon as I tumble out of bed and my toes touch the floor at 5 AM, turning on the computer for it to come to life. The unforeseen rare exception? When my computer crashed on the evening of April 25th, plunging my world into darkness. Cut off from social media until the following afternoon, I could not post my daily Facebook ads or update my status at Authors Den and Goodreads.

While I’m aware that my short-lived absence from social media probably didn’t make a dent in book sales or lack thereof, my exile prohibited me from hustling online author opportunities.

Once my computer screen came into the light, I worked the room. Henceforth, in REAL TIME,
I’ve submitted my book to another contest:

Chill with a Book Awards:

http://www.chillwithabook.com/

I’ve been prepping pre-event posts for my book character event hosted by fellow Indie, Tabi Slick (The Slick Writing Corner), going live on May 1st from 5-8 PM EST on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/18946...

I’ve procured guest spots on Blog Talk Radio:
July 11th (1- 1:30 PM EST) Susan Wingate’s Radio Show for Authors – DIALOGUE: BETWEEN THE LINES:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dialogue

August 19th (8 – 9 PM EST) Yvonne Mason’s OFF THE CHAIN:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yvonnemason

The frenetic life of an Indie author is akin to a rolling stone gathering no moss in the hope that the tide will turn and things will roll our way.

An Enlightening Quiche